Rolling mill and method of rolling



July 17, 1934. LEE 1,966,554

ROLLING MILL AND METHOD OF ROLLING Filed Jan. 15, 1950 lvs F55 OMATI TRAN FER SWIN UTOMAT/C TRA INVENTOR mfm' Patented July 17, 1934 UNITED STATES PAITENT OFFICE noumo MILL AND METHOD or momma Leif Lee, Youngstown, Ohio Application January 15, 1930, Serial No. 420,982

10 Claims. (01. 80-311) The present invention relates broadly to the art of metal rolling, and more particularly to the rolling of substantially flat shapes, ordinarily referred to as sheets, as opposed to the rolling of irregular shapes;

At the present time, it is customary in the art to heat slabs, having an approximate dimension of 2 x 20" x 60", in a suitable furnace, and then subject the same to a suitable operation for removing some or all of the scale therefrom.

- out, I am able to effectively roll material either in accordance with the standard practice or subject the same to a further rolling operation by means of which it can be conveniently reduced to 16 or 18 gauge. When reduced to such thickness it may be conveniently cut into smaller pieces utilizable as breakdowns for an ordinary tin plate mill.

In the accompanying drawing 1 have illustrated more or less diagrammatically one embodiment of the invention by means of which the improved results may be obtained.

In'accordance with the present'invention, the improved mill layout may comprise a suitable source of power 2 having a driving connection 3 v to a pinion stand 4 comprising upper and lower pinions as well understood in the a The respective pinions of the stand 4 have driving connections 5 to, the respective rolls of a roughing mill 6, the

ing both the upper and lower rolls of the roughing mill.

Positioned in axial alinement with the roughing mill 6 isa three-high mill '7 of any usual construction, the lower roll of which is adapted to be driven from the lower roll of the roughing 1 mill by ,a suitable shaft 8.

Cooperating with the three-high mill '1, and also preferably positioned in axial alinement therewith, is a finishing mill 9 which may be either of the two or three-high type. The bottom-roll of this mill may likewise be driven from the mill '7 by a suitable coupling 10. 4

Intermediate the roughing mill 6 and the threehigh mill '7 is a swinging transfer 11 of any conventional construction eflfective for taking matethey may Thereafter they are heating furnace 23.

-mill 9 whereby connection beingeffective for drivrial from the roughing mill and delivering it to the three-high mill. Q

Suitably positioned relatively to the mills is a heating furnace 12 in which slabs having, for example, characteristics such as previously referred to, are adapted to be heated. When such slabs have been raised to the desired temperature, be withdrawn-therefrom and passed through an edging mill 13 effective for breaking the scale therefrom. Upon leaving the edging 55 mill, the slabs may be delivered to a transfer car 1 1 effective approximately in the line of rolling of the roughing mill 6 and capable of delivering heated slabs thereto for a rough rolling operation;

After a rough rolling has been accomplished, the slabs may be transferred by the transfer mechanism 11 to the three-high. stand '7. The material may be subjected to any number of rolling operations in the three-high mill. Upon the completion of such rolling operations, it may be 16 delivered by the mill, by means of theusual roll table 15, directly to a blue annealing'furnace 16 in accordance with the usual practice. In lieu, however, of delivery to such blue annealing furnace, it may be conveyed by the roller table 1'7 to a shear 18 effective for shearing it into the desired lengths. Ordinarily each slab will be sheared into two pieces each approximately 80 inches long, and the end scrap removed.

These sheared plates may then be delivered by a conveyor 19 to a piler 20 effective for storage purposes, or to an automatic transfer 21. This automatic transfer cooperates at one end with the conveyor 19, and at the opposite endwith a second conveyor 22 cooperatingwith a continuous This furnace is conveniently alined longitudinally with the pass through the the heated sheets may be delivered therefrom by a suitable roller table 24 directly to the mill. In this mill the sheets are further reduced in thickness either singly, doubly or in packs in accordance with anyofthe present practices, to approximately 16- or 18 gauge by any desirednumber of rolling operations and are then discharged therefrom by means of a roller table 25 to an automatic transfer 26. This automatic transfer cooperates at one end with the roller table 25 and at theother end with the roller table 15. By means of this construction the completed sheets after leaving the mill 9 may be transferred to the roller table 15 and thence into the blue annealing furnace for subsequent operations.

If desired, the mill 9 may be wider than the mill '1, whereby the individual 80 inch sheets, no

pling 10.

construction, operation and. I the parts may when formed in the manner described, may be turned and subjected to a cross rolling operation in the mill 9, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. Thus with one stand of rolls having an efiective length in excess of inches, it is possible to produce a mill having some of the characteristics of an ordinary 80 inch plate mill without incurring the expense incident to the installation of such a mill.

The invention is further of advantage in that either the mill 7 or the mill 9 may be used independently of each other. In case of breakdown of the mill 7, for example, the transfer mechanism 11 may deliver to the roller table 17 and the material without shearing may be transferred to the mill 9. In like manner, in case of breakdown of the mill 9, it may be thrown out of operation without affecting the operation of the mill 7. This mill at such times may be utilized for delivery directly to the blue annealing furnace or for the production of sheets which may be delivered to the piler 20 and stored for subsequent use. I

The layout above described, therefore, possesses advantages not obtainable with a continuous rolling operation, in that a continuous mill the breakdown of one of the mills usually requires shutting down of the complete equipment. By

means of the present invention, the mill 9 may be utilized while the mill 7 is undergoing repair, or the mill 7 may be utilized while the mill 9 is undergoing repair, or the two mills may be used interchangeably. This may be accomplished either by dummying the material through the three-high mill 7 without efiecting any rolling thereon, or by removing the two upper rolls of the three-high mill and effecting the necessary repairs thereon or to the mill while continuing the driving through the bottom roll. In case it is desired to utilize the mill 7 and repair the mill 9, it will be apparent that this may readily be accomplished by removing the drive connection or cou- When the mill 9 is operated, it is efiective for the delivery of sheet material which may subsequently be cut into individual sheet bars utilizable as breakdowns for a regular tin plate operation, such breakdowns being of 16 to 18 gauge as desired.

In accordance with the present invention the capacity of a given installation is materially increased as well as the flexibility of operation. At the same time there is provided a layoutsuch that sheets of a wide variety of shapes, sizes and thicknesses may be produced at will by straight rolling or by cross rolling and straight rolling in combination.

While I have herein illustrated one preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that changes in the relative location of be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or the scope of my broader claims.

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill, and conveying means having a fixed location and effective for transferring material from said roughing mill either to said three-high or to said finishing mill.

2. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill, and conveying means having a fixed location and effec= tive for transferring material from said roughmo em ing mill either to said three-high mill or to said finishing mill, there being means in said conveying means for effecting shearing of the material.

3. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill, and conveying means effective for transferring material from said roughing mill either to said threehigh mill or to said finishing mill, there being a plurality of means in said conveying means for effecting heating of the material.

4. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill having the rolls thereof in substantially axial alinement, and material transfer means having a fixed location and efiective for transferring material from the roughing mill to either said three-high mill or said finishing mill.

5. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill having the rolls thereof in substantially ardal alinement, ma-

high mill, there being a continuous heating furnace cooperating with said finishing mill, and a closed circuit conveying means between said heating furnace, said three-high mill and said finishing mfll.

6. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a. three-high mill and a finishing mill having the rolls thereof in substantially axial alinement, and material transfer means effective for transferring material from the roughing mill to either said three-high mill or said finishing mill, there being a continuous heating furnace cooperating with said finishing mill, and a second furnace cooperating with both said three-high mill and said finishing mill.

7. In the method of rolling, the steps comprising heating a slab, removing the scale therefrom, rough rolling the same, thereafter operating on the material successively in a plurality of mills and effecting a transfer of the material laterally from one mill to the other, shearing the material intermediate the mills, and turning the sheared material whereby it is subjected to a cross rolling operation in the last 8. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill in substantially axial alinement, conveying means for said roughing mill, a closed circuit conveying means between said three-high mill and said finishing mill, and a transfer means between said roughing mill and said closed circuit conveying means.

9. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill in substantially axial alinement, conveying means for said roughing mill, a closed circuit conveying means between said three-high mill and said finishing mill, and a swinging transfer means between said roughing mill and said closed circuit con-= veying means.

10. In a rolling mill installation, a roughing mill, a three-high mill and a finishing mill having the rolls thereof in substantially axial alinement, material transfer means effective for transferring material from the roughing mill to said three-high mill, there being a continuous heating furnace cooperating with said a closed circuit conveying means between said heating furnace, said three-high mill andsaid finishing mill, and a second furnace cooperating with said closed circuit conveying means.

lllll finishing mill, 

